Heidi’s challenge for the Inklings this month was to “write a short postcard poem with choice details of your vacation/holiday/getaway/escape location and activities. Conclude with “Wish you were here” or some variation!”
This past week, I spent two unplanned days in NYC. The actual plan was to go to an in-person workshop at Tatter on Saturday and then come right home that evening. But mid-afternoon on Saturday, my flight was cancelled. No problem, except that the two known-to-me hotels were booked up for the night. My third choice, the Hotel Beacon, was A-Mazing, so that made up for it all and I looked forward to a fun bonus museum day on Sunday before returning home that night…which was not to be, though, because my flight was cancelled AGAIN. After a trip out to The Mayhem Known as JFK in the Midst of Numerous Flight Cancellations (see photo taken from the AirTrain), I wound up back at one of my known-to-me hotels with a flight booked for Monday afternoon. I was just about over making lemonade, but I (metaphorically) sucked it up and spent a delightful couple of semi-cool morning hours walking in Central Park before spending the rest of the afternoon and evening in airports and airplanes.
My response to Heidi’s prompt is not a short postcard poem. It long, like my trip became.
Here’s what the other Inklings did with this month’s challenge:
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Catherine @Reading to the Core
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Jan has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Bookseedstudio.
A(nother) Year of Reading 
Here’s to making the best out of a bad situation, Mary Lee. You are resilient! I love all the rhyming in your poem which makes it fun to say. Welcome home!
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Fun word play from the topsy-turvy deck of cards you were dealt, and new adventure, thanks Mary Lee!
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Oh, my, what an adventure!! It was fun to (kind of) follow it in real time on Instagram, but this poem is WAYY better, with its playful Groundhog-Day redux of rhymes, which make it feel like the whole thing was longer than it actually took in hours–which is how I’m pretty sure it FELT as it was happening. Good for you for keeping undismayed in the world’s most expensive arcade!
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You certainly did make lemondae, Mary Lee! Your Poem is full of your sense of adventure, and I love all the rhymes. Next time you’re stranded in NYC, call me!
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I felt like you navigated those unexpected delays and changes deftly – worth memorializing in poetry! Wish I had been there, indeed.
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Dear Arriving/Departing/Arriving/Departing Passenger, Please know your unintended zigzag wanderlust is not a bust. You’ve ticketed me to a digital visit to Blue Library & The Fold of Tatter, a new [to me] lucious universe of top-drawer artist-stitchers such as you. If I may be bold, let me say your weekend waylay worked wonders – keeping you out of shearly surely frightening skies, benign to look upon but not to bounce upon. In short, I luv your postcard poem, your sidetracked travel tale response to Heidi’s clever prompt.
jan/bookseedstudio
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After that delight challenge Wish You Were Free poem, I suggest you send this off to your airline to see how you turned lemons into lemonades and perhaps snag a free airline ✈️ ticket round trip in return for your positivity 👍through writing ✍️
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This poem is the best kind of lemonade! What a great use of rhyme which is a perfect craft move for the kind of travel upset you had. I do wish I was there.
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The form you used worked so well, Mary Lee! Good job.
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OK, Mary Lee, that was a fun response to your trip! I’m glad you were safe from those wicked crosswinds. The rhyming in each stanza is lots of fun! I enjoyed the sound of reading your poem, and you tell the story so well. I hope looking back the trip was an over all positive!
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That’s a lot of lemonade, Mary Lee! What I would give to get stuck in NYC for a few days! Your poem made me smile –hope you were able to do so through all the weather nonsense!
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Dear Mary Lee, that second stanza!! Brava! Having just had travel failure that kept me home instead of my intended destination, I can relate to the gifts and the frustrations…I often tell myself when things don’t work out as expected/hope “it wasn’t meant for me.” And I believe that wholeheartedly! You were meant to have that unexpected lemonade in NYC, not what the plane ticket said. xo
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I love this extra two days in NYC (despite the expense). When I was in NYC for my 30 hour trip, I did get delayed on my train for 3 hours because of no power at Penn Station. But it was a perfect trip otherwise. I’m just thinking hot, hot weather and you probably didn’t have extra clothes. I know I didn’t have enough extra clothes for that extreme heat and all the walking I did.
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